Agricultural spraying of soil nutrients, insecticides and pesticides is common, and typically involves the use of a boom-type sprayer pulled behind a tractor. Recently, various navigation aid systems have been developed with increased accuracy for steering the tractor through the field on a desired path. Examples of such steering systems include the John Deere Parallel Tracking and AutoTrak system, IntigriNautics AutoSteer products, and systems by Trimble, and Beeline.
However, none of these navigation aid systems which are currently available have the means or algorithmic concept to account for the wind-drift of the spray from the spray nozzles. Such wind-drift leads to an incorrect overlap of the sprayed solution from one pass to the next. The cross-path wind-drift can be significant and result in overapplication or underapplication of the spray solution. The wind-drift can also present environmental issues, for example, with excessive spray overlap or when the spray drifts to undesired areas.
Accordingly, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of a system which automatically compensates for wind-drift for agricultural sprayers.
Another objective of the present invention is a system to facilitate the steering of an agricultural sprayer through a field to achieve a desired spray overlap.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of a method of automatically compensating for wind-drift during spraying by an agricultural sprayer.
Still another objective of the present invention is the provision of an agricultural sprayer having a weather station thereon for sensing wind speed and direction, and a control unit adapted to receive input data regarding wind speed and direction, vehicle speed and direction, and the desired spray overlap, and then generate output data to facilitate steering of the sprayer through the field to achieve the desired spray overlap.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of an agricultural sprayer with a control unit programmed with a set of instructions for processing input data and generating output data to accommodate wind-drift.
Yet another objective of the present invention is the provision of an agricultural sprayer having a navigation aid system with a control unit operatively connected thereto to facilitate steering of the agricultural sprayer in consideration of wind-drift.
These and other objectives will become apparent from the following description of the invention.
The Automatic Wind-Drift Compensation System of the present invention is intended for use on an agricultural sprayer having a navigation aid system installed thereon. The system includes a control unit adapted to receive input data, including wind speed, wind direction, vehicle speed, vehicle direction, and desired spray overlap. A set of instructions is programmed into the control unit for processing the input data and for generating output data in response to the input data. The output data is used to direct the sprayer, or facilitate steering of the sprayer, through the field so as to achieve the desired spray overlap. The system may also include a weather station on the sprayer for sensing the wind speed and wind direction. The sprayer height may also be one of the input data processed by the control unit.